Chapter 10 #2
My stomach twists as I realize there’s some chance it didn’t die when it went over the edge. If it managed to catch itself on the way down, it might still be out there. And even if that one isn’t out there, there are no doubt others.
“I like the idea of a cave,” I say. “With a rock we can roll over the door. I really want to be inside again. I miss inside. It feels like we’ve lost the whole concept of inside. There’s way too much outdoors happening.”
“Then we should explore the lower ranges. I think I saw a fissure in the rock that might have been a cave. Odds are it will be occupied with something, but we should be able to use fire to drive it out.”
Drako is already thinking about our next move for survival. He’s not basking in praise. He was going to save me no matter what. It’s not even a thing to him. I have never been more attracted to him than I am in this moment.
“You two stay here,” he says. “I want to run up the mountainside a little more. I have adrenaline to burn off. Selene looks tired. She needs to conserve her energy. Breeding females don’t have as much stamina as men.”
Being called a ‘breeding female’ takes the edge off the attraction just a little, but I still feel a wave of admiration as Drako takes off to try to find us real shelter.
That’s when I realize Thor is kind of mad. Big mad, even. He turns to me with an expression that seems way more annoyed than he has any right to be. He wasn’t this annoyed when he discovered I was a stowaway, even.
“You have all the subtlety of a forest fire,” Thor growls at me. “Are you trying to tip him off?”
Oh. He’s mad that it seems like I’m on Drako’s side, and that I don’t want him to be hanged. That is in large part because I am on Drako’s side, and I do not want him to be hanged.
“I don’t think I need to. He isn’t stupid. And you didn’t even thank him. He didn’t have to save you. He could have left you to fall. Would it really have killed you to toss him a quick thanks?”
“I wasn’t going to fall. I could have pulled myself up.”
“He could have given you a quick shove and ensured you didn’t,” I say. Feels strange to be explaining basic decency to a guy who is supposed to be a hero.
I don’t even want to bring up the fact that Thor had an energy weapon the whole time.
Pointing out that he literally forgot to fight is not going to help the situation.
He is bristling at Drako turning out to be a natural hero.
I guess Thor thought he was the only one capable of good in our little party.
“Let’s not talk,” Thor says.
“Good idea,” I say. “And maybe let me hold the gun. I might use it if we are in danger.”
Well, I held onto that ammunition for twenty seconds, and I’m going to give myself credit for that.
“There was no way to shoot the thing with Drako running back and forth in front of it,” he snaps.
“Wouldn’t that just have been two birds with one stone for you?”
“I don’t want to murder him. I want him to face justice. I am not a monster.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Thor doesn’t answer after that, and I don’t push it. Maybe I’m being kind of an asshole. We all freaked out and acted on instinct. Both Drako and Thor tried to save me.
“Sorry,” I say after about ten minutes. “You helped.”
“I helped,” Thor snorts.
“Yeah. You helped. You did a really good job, buddy.”
“Are you trying to be a pain in the ass?” He pauses for a brief moment. “Of course you are. You don’t take anything seriously. It’s all about getting a reaction.”
“Hey, fuck you,” I frown. “I was trying to be nice.”
“You didn’t succeed,” Thor deadpans.
“So damn salty,” I respond. “Sorry for trying. Just let me fall off the cliff next time, I guess.”
“Stop talking, Selene,” Thor says. “I’d never let harm come to you, no matter how annoying you try to be.”
“So I am annoying now.”
“The two of you bicker like an old married couple,” Drako says, emerging from the undergrowth. I startle at his sudden appearance. I am on edge from all the almost dying. Thor is too, I bet. That’s why we’re bickering like the proverbial.
“One of these days you’re going to work out that I’m right about how to handle her,” he says to Thor. “You’ll whip her ass, fuck it, and feel a whole lot better about it.”
“Did you find a cave?” Thor isn’t interested in relationship tips.
Are we in a relationship? Not really. This is some kind of survivorship, maybe.
That’s the only word I can think of for it.
We’re all intimate because we don’t know if we’re going to see another day, and all of these relationships are completely unworkable outside this exact context.
If my sisters knew I was sleeping with a Vikar jarl, they’d be so upset. That does make it even better.
“Yes,” Drako says. “The opening is tight, but that’s good.
Means we should be able to barricade ourselves in efficiently if we need to.
It’s not a large interior, but there’s a possibility of hollowing it out, I suppose, over time.
Point is, it’d be somewhere to sleep where one of us doesn’t have to stay up all night keeping watch. ”
“Did you stay up all night and keep watch?”
I didn’t even realize he’d done that.
“Someone had to do it. The two of you were out like lights.”
“You must be exhausted,” I say, just to annoy Thor.
His snort tells me I succeeded. Drako’s expression suggests he knows what is going on and he doesn’t care enough to stop it.
We go up to the cave, which is tight quarters like Drako said. There is something absolutely incomparably cozy about being tucked away in a small space with rock walls, though. For the first time since our ship obliterated itself against this planet’s surface, I feel safe. Really safe. Animal safe.
I tuck myself into a corner and I could swear I am asleep before I can close my eyes.
I sleep for a good amount of time, but because I fell asleep so early, I wake up in the middle of the night, or very early in the morning. Which, I cannot precisely say.
When I open my eyes, I see that a fire has been set at the mouth of the cave. The flickering sends shadows playing across the inner walls. Male voices are speaking in low tones.
I wonder what they are talking about, these two men who have no good intentions for one another.
Drako saved Thor, but Thor keeps saying he will see Drako hang.
I understand why. It is easier to cling to duty than to adapt to a new reality.
But there are only three humans on this world right now, and there may only be three of us for a very long time.
I’d like to think we will be rescued, but I do not know that much about space faring, and what I do know suggests that we lose ships from time to time and rescue missions are, well, costly.
Drako might be right.
I close my eyes again, and fall completely asleep to the sounds of their conversation. When I open my eyes again, it is morning. The fire has been put to use cooking meat of some kind, and only Drako is in the cave with me.
“Good morning,” he says, turning to face me as I make the scrambling noises associated with getting up. I have spent a night asleep in the sheltering curve of a rock with no bedding at all. I should feel worse than I do, really. Is there such a thing as ergonomic slate?
“Did you sleep?” I frown at him.
He chuckles. “Yes,” he says. “I don’t need as much as you. I am not a woman.”
“Women need more sleep than men?”
“Yes,” he says. “Unavoidable biology. Women from my clan sleep ten hours a day and nap if they want.”
“I didn’t see any of the women in your clan napping when they were helping drag me about the place,” I say.
I still have quite vivid memories of the short time I spent in captivity with this man, and I am not going to forget them just because he has been amazing for the last twenty-four hours, or because he’s providing for me, or because he somehow looks hotter every day that passes.
He doesn’t reply to that. He turns his attention back to whatever is cooking on the fire.
“Where did Thor go?”
“He wants to do a mission to the wreckage to scavenge some materials. I did not stop him, because he is not mine to command, and if he gets himself killed then I do not have to tolerate his Frayer cock inside you.”
Drako is blunt as ever.
“So he went without me?”
“Neither he nor I would tolerate you going down there. It’s dangerous, and you are far too precious.”
Someone else might be flattered by that description, but I really wanted to go down to the wreckage too. There’s a chance there are some ration packs left, maybe. I don’t know if the scavenging horde was into freeze-dried things as well as human flesh.
“We should all be down there,” I say. “It’s too precious a resource to waste. And your camp, too. We should be gathering supplies from both places…”
Drako listens to me in a manner I can only describe as almost insultingly patient.
“We will balance safety and advantage,” he says. “Right now, we need rest, and we need food. We have both. There’s a spring not too far as well, feeds the river downstream of here. Might even be one of its origins. Anyway, we have what we need.”
I am talking a big game, but the truth is I don’t know more than he does about surviving on this planet. He’s done it for a while. I just want to assert myself, not hide in a cave while two big men fight over who gets to make decisions for me.
“Here,” he says, handing me a leaf with what looks like wild bacon on it. “Eat up.”
I do, because refusing would be stupid. It’s good. It’s crispy and it has a kind of umami tang that I quite enjoy. I don’t know what kind of animal it came from, but I am grateful to the creature for its sacrifice.
“Did you eat?” I ask the question out of a sudden suspicion that Drako might be sacrificing himself for me.
“Yes. You do not have to worry about me. I am going to take care of myself so I can take care of you. It’s no good if I am weak and hungry. Who is going to pull your boyfriend up from the ledges of cliffs?”